Pappy

January 8

6 hours ago, Johnson said:

A slight correction Pappy (I'm sure you didn't quite mean it that way). The white portion of the roundels was overpainted with roundel blue, which led to a disproportionately large blue section on the roundels.

Cheers,

Yes thank you, that is what I meant, EDSG in the roundels woul look weird!

cheers,

Pappy

January 8

12 hours ago, NellyV said:

I'm trying to move ahead with the build but I'm stymied by a few things I need to get straight before proceeding further. I'm trying to work out what colour the cockpit tub and seat should be. I've seen various comments concerning this in a number of different forums. Suggestions range from medium sea grey (looks too light to me), through Admiralty Grey (but this also comes in light and dark shades) through to EDSG. To me, EDSG looks to be the best match based on the few images on-line of SHARS that show the seat head box at the time of Corporate, but if I use EDSG, the cockpit is going to look like a boring black hole. I may go with DSG as a compromise. I have thrown the OOTB build idea out now because I have the Big Ed PE set in hand. The Eduard colour PE control panels have a blueish medium grey hue which doesn't really match either EDSG or DSG. I'll experiment further with various shades of grey, but does anyone know the definitive grey colour for the cockpit and seat?

Another area with a big question mark is the colour of the inner jet intake. Some photos of FRS1s show the inner inlet area immediately around the engine fan painted white, with a sharp transition to dark grey ahead of what I take to be the boundary layer bleed slot and blow in doors, but the head on shots of aircraft during corporate appear to show the inlets are painted in EDSG all the way back to the engine face. Bearing in mind the all over EDSG is meant to make the SHAR less observable, it would make sense to have over painted any white inlets. So, I'm currently planning on painting the inlet in EDSG only, but does anyone have a comment on this choice?

G'day,

Dark Admiralty Grey is the official cockpit colour.

I used Tamiya XF-54 (Dark Sea Grey) as my approximation. I think WEM make the exact shade. The ejection seat was a lighter shade, I used Medium Se Grey. The pre-painted PE colours are way off .

As already stated, the upper EDSG was used to overpaint the white areas including the intakes and the white portions of the roundels. This meant that most of the stencils were also overpainted, exceptions werthe nozzle and tailpalne position indicators. Depending on which carrier, the EDSG was applied with sprayguns or rollers,. The overpainting left a slight but perceptible tonal change to the overpainted white areas which I replicated on my build,

cheers,

Pappy

January 8

3 hours ago, Wings unlevel said:

Everything I’ve read says that’s the case, Pappy. When I get to it with my A-6 I’ll be following your lead here.

Yeah there are deffo a few unique features apart from the big 'football' on the tail. Don't wait for me though, I will be working on my other build for a while so you may end up being in front,

cheers,

Pappy

January 8

G'day people,

I was going to wait until my other GB entry was completed before starting but this kit has been in the stash long enough so I have decided to get into this one as well.

AS I said at the start, this kit has a good shape but lacks detail so it was time to start doing something to remedy that. This is what comes in the box,

There is also a stick and panel which are equally featureless. Luckily I have some resin and PE which can fix this.

First step is to prepare the fuselage

by removing these bits

To be replaced by these bits

The tub also got some love

cheers,

Pappy

January 8

G'day people,

A little more progress today. I had glued the wings together. The destructions required the wing speed brake external actuator fairings to be removed. I wanted to make sure this was a thing before I hacked into the plastic. Yup, it is! I don't know if the actuator fairings are a feature unique to the EA-6A because the A-6A and A-6E both have them

I did one wing at a time so that I could use it as a guide to re0instate any lost panel line details.

Fujimi supply the slats as separate items which is a nice touch but as far as I know the slats operate in concert with the flaps, so if the slats are deployed, so are the flaps? Its looks weird anyway so I decided to cut the slat guides off and just attach the slats in the closed position. The problem is that you can get them flush with either the upper of lower edge but not both so I opted to get the upper side flush and bogged and sanded the lower edge

It was then just a simple matter of scribing in the lost lower edge,

cheers,

Pappy

January 8

Dunno, I don't have the KH kit!

IIRC the KH kit splits the fuselage into four parts (forward and aft fuselage halves) so you can display the included full length dpnk.

That was the main reason I decided to buy the Kinetic SUE instead

Pappy

January 7

G'day people,

If I had to guess I would have said no as well but clearly this is wrong.

I think the reason for the inner doors opening is to help create an ' air dam' to create a ground effect cushion by trapping additional air underneath the jet when it gets close to the ground. I ddn't think FOD is the great concern as it is mainly a danger to the engine which in VTOL mode would be ingesting air from the top of the fuselage and the deck would be swept for FOD regularly. There would also be a post flight inspection in any case,

cheers,

Pappy

January 7

1 hour ago, Bertie McBoatface said:

zHi Pappy. I'm looking forward to seeing your transformation of this piece of the olden days.

G'day Bertie,

It is definitely a product of its time but there is the potential for a good kit in there,

cheers,

Pappy

January 7

2 hours ago, TonyOD said:

Ooh, this is a good one. I had a phase of manfully grappling with Heller kits but I always thought it was worth it in the end!

Yeah I know what you mean, I built their Etendard IV M a while back. It was a slog at times but they do look good when done,

cheers,

Pappy

January 7

G'day people,

Not sure how wise this is but I will attempt to complete a second build, something with a Gallic twist,

This is the Airfix issue of the Heller kit. it's old and has lots of thick, poor fitting plastic with scant detail which has long been superceded by the excellent Kinetic family of SUE kits. The construction sequence is pretty straightforward and is comprised of only 13 steps, three of which deal with stores, In any case, if I don't get to it there is always the Dassault build which follows not long after,

cheers,

Pappy

January 7

G'day people,

Wow, all the way from the the bowels of page 4, this is proving to be a popular GB!

The starter's gun has fired (well in Oz anyway) and the clock is now running so it is time to crack the bags on this one.

The destructions assembly sequence starts with assembling the cockpit so who am I to argue?

The side consoles and instrument panel feature some really nice crisp and delicate details. Although the kit includes decals to overlay on the side consoles and instrument panel it is just too tempting so I think that I will have a crack at painting the details. I don't think that the IP is super accurate for an EA-6A but I think that i will live with it,

The other bit carried out was to drill out the lightening holes in the fuselage speed brakes. I think it is a simple thing that makes a big difference to their appearance

These were later changed to a 'solid' version of later variants before eventually being de-activated but as the EA-6A was a development of the A-6A these were very much still in use

cheers,

Pappy

January 4

G'day Rob,

Lovely job on an unusual subjetc

cheers,

Pappy

January 4

3 hours ago, Finn said:

A Google translation from the above link:

415 combat sorties are carried out on SEM, making it possible to treat 127 objectives. 215 bombs are fired at positively identified targets and two AS 30 Laser missiles fired at hangarettes in Ponikve (in Serbia) on May 11 by Modernized Super-Etendards n°13 and 30. The plane having dropped the most bombs is n°33 with a total of 34 GBU-12s of 250 kg fired in 17 sorties. 246 in-flight refueling missions were carried out and 49 bombs were dropped, inert, before landing. Indeed, when a mission was canceled by the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) after catapulting the planes, the Super-Étendard was not authorized to land with its armament due to the aging of the structure caused by the impact of landing with armaments. Authorization from the Service Central de l'Aéronautique (SCAéro), which came after three weeks of offensive actions, nevertheless subsequently allowed the SEMs to land with their bombs, this subject to very specific collection conditions (slope, mass and wind on the bridge).

Interesting in that 49 bombs were jettisoned before they could land back on the carrier, until they were cleared later on to bring the bombs back if necessary.

Jari

G'day Jari,

Thanks for ttranslating the pilot's account from the FFA site it has been very useful.

Ref the jettisoned bombs, it is not unusual that the carrier landing weight (the 'bring back' weight) is lower than than the TKOF weight. If the jets were landing at a land aerodrome it would not have been an issue and the same article states that the jets took off and then hit their 'nannies' O buddy refuel equippes SUE's) to top off and reach the target. It was also because they would not have to dump as much fuel prior to landing in an emergency. Most carrier jets dump excess fuel prior to oanding as well.

cheers,

Pappy

January 3

12 hours ago, Hook said:

I believe the Rafales dedignated for the Sue bomb trucks.

Cheers,

Andre

Not quite,

G'day Andre,

I have had a perouse through the FFA site referred above. I used my schoolboy French to get the gist of a pilot account which he described a mission involving 15 jets. on a weapons dump. The strike force from the carrier Foch was conducted by aircraft from 11F and consisted entirely of SUE's performing the role of shooters (2 x GBU-12s) or designators, using an ALTIS pod to buddy lase for thre shooters. Some SUE's were also configured with buddy refuel pods to conduct AAR once airborne.

The AS-30 mission was conducted previously against Ponikve airfield. Rafale was not involved in Op Trident,

cheers,

Pappy

January 2

G'day people,

I have been trying to find mission loads carried by French Navy SuE's during Operation Allied Force. I have found pics of SuE loads for Afghanistan and of course heaps of Agentine Falklands war era pics but have come up empty for Allied Force.

Can someone point me in the direction of pics of French navy SuE loads please?

I would guess that outer pylons would be a BARAX/PHIMAT combination with perhaps a pair of GBU-12s on the inner pylons, but as the SuE ddes not have an integral laser designator it would require something like an ALTIS or DAMOCLES pod?

cheers,

Pappy

December 31, 2022

Still stopped

Pappy

December 31, 2022

3 hours ago, AliGauld said:

Thanks Chris,

It's what we do though.

Cheers,

Alistair

G'day Alistair,

I have a mate who calls this 'modelling for God' since nobody else will see it. I also dd this sort of thing and it never seems to bother me as much as it does others. My attitude is that the kit is there to entertain me and painting stuff is part of that, even if the parts will be hard to see if at all. In this case lots of people have seen your engine (online), they just can't see it in real life.

I am also liking the sow's ear to silk purse tranformation that you are performing,

cheers,

Pappy

December 30, 2022

Just now, Johnson said:

It did occur to me that scratch building a boxy little tractor might be easier!

Grandad's axe!

I am sure it will turn out great,

cheers,

Pappy

December 30, 2022

22 minutes ago, Johnson said:

My Guardian Angels in the IPMS Harrier SIG are watching over me and have come to the rescue, pointing out some of the modifications needed to make the Air Graphics Vickers Mk2 Deck Tractor resemble the tractor used during the Falklands Conflict. Most critically, I hadn't spotted that the entire raised rear deck is different.

So even more surgery on the kit than I'd anticipated, but I like this sort of work. Some are mods to restore the tractor to an earlier 1980s state, and some to remove some pretty gross errors, such as lowering the wheels and changing the tread pattern (which are not entirely Air Graphics fault as they were offering an improved version of the kit originally produced by Model Alliance).

Here are a few of the mods required;

Out with the razor saw and the dust mask tomorrow!

Cheers,

Geez, will there be anything left of the original tractor?

Loving the work, keep it up,

cheers,

Pappy

December 29, 2022

G/day Amos,

Thanks very much,

cheers,

Pappy

December 27, 2022

G'day Stu,

I agree that the Airfix K2 boxing is a better detailed kit and crisper in general but the Matchbox (MB) kit is a good shape, includes the HDU and external refuel pods. The Revell re-box also includes Cartograph printed decals and supplies the Hemp scheme. The areas where the kit falls a little short is in the finer details like the undercarriage and cockpit. I have both kits and despite having greater detail and the addition of PE etc, the cockpit interior is mostly invisible!

As Electrosoldier (ES) mentioned the MB kit has two big drawbacks, one is that all the panel line detail is represented as fine raised lines. You may not be put-off by this and may even decide to use these as a scribing guide. Or you could juts ignore it. The second issue is the fit. The kit goes together very well for the most part but as ES also mentioned, the intakes have their guide vanes moulded integrally with each wing half, which results in a truly awful seam that goes through the middle of each vane. The easy option here is to fit some intake blanks. These are simple shapes and could be made from some plastic sheet very easily. Airfix was very clever in this area and designed the vanes as separate items with drop into place after the intake duct is assembled making for a much neater join.

Flightpath make a set of one piece resin intake plugs but this involves major surgery, requiring you to cut the corresponding section out of each kit wing assembly, install the resin inserts, then sand and fill the resultant seams. The Flightpath PE set will go a long way to improving the detail level of the MB kit, cockpit, undercarriage and speed brakes but when you add the cost of the PE set resin intakes you are now approaching or surpassing the cost of the Airfix kit, plus all the extra work and complexity of folding brass and using different media (styrene, resin and brass) which makes for a longer and more comlex build. Before the Airfix kit became available, this was the path chosen by 'serious' builders.

In summary you get what you pay for, the MB kit is an accurate shape but lacks recessed panel lines, but it looks the part when completed and as you say significantly cheaper than the Airfix offering (when available). Airfix has better detail and generally fits better but costs a lot more. Cleaning up the MB intake seams will be your biggest hurdle, it is annoying and tedious but can be done. Adding intake blanks would make life much easier. If you just want a shelf sitter as opposed to a comp table entry, it is not a bad option and as long as you don't suffer from AMS, it could be a cheap, fun and quick build. The Airfix kit offers better detail and more complex engineering which makes for an easier build in this respect and that is reflected in the price.

Head on over to the Scalemates review site, there should be some scans of the instructions from each kit which may help you decide,

cheers,

Pappy

December 27, 2022

6 hours ago, Jure Miljevic said:

Hello, Pappy

Metal skin covered sections starts with the third rib on the folding section and finishes with the seventh rib from the tip. Drawings can be found in several books (very good Ian Huntley's drawings in Warpaint series book for example) and articles. Those on the link below look very similar to the drawings in ancient L + K article:

https://alldrawings.ru/en/pictures/item/fairey-swordfish-mk-ii-aircraft-drawings-dimensions-figures

It can be also spotted on the photos once one knows where to look, like on this Duxford Swordfish Mk.III photo:

https://alldrawings.ru/en/pictures/item/fairey-swordfish-mk-ii-aircraft-drawings-dimensions-figures

As far as I know slots deployed automatically with drop of air pressure on the leading edge.

I hope it helps. Cheers

Jure

45 minutes ago, Lee Howard said:

The metal skins to the undersides of the lower mainplanes were a feature of the Mk.II and Mk.III, of course. It doesn't require any change to the underlying structure, though - Mk.I W5856 is currently fitted with the wings from Mk.III NF389, for instance, the decision being taken to fit them before they were completed, and therefore they were finished with fabric instead of metal. But you wouldn't know that.

The leading edge slats on the upper mainplanes pop out automatically (with quite a bang as they hit their stops - unnerving for those not pre-warned) at around 65kts to help reduce the stall speed (down to around 52kts - the Swordfish doesn't really stall, it just mushes). They operate independently so can come out asymmetrically in steep turns and wingovers, for instance. They then slide back in on their track bars as airspeed increases. You can get the same effect on very windy days with the aircraft sat out on dispersal and pointed into wind.

G'day Jure and Lee,

Thank you both very much for the prompt and helpful responses, exactly what I was chasing,

cheers,

Pappy

December 27, 2022

G'day people,

I have a couple of questions regarding the Fairey Swordfish ('Stringbag') Mk.II and as I am mainly a jet guy cluelesss with regards the prop stuff, I thought to seek to collective wisdom of the BM massif'

Wikipedia informs me that the Mk.II had metal skinned lower wing undersides to enable the use of rockets,

Q1. Does anyone have a picture or drawing of what this looked like? Is it just a section of metal where the doped skin over ribs would be?

I have noticed the the upper wings have some form of a slat device

Q2. Were these deployed mechanically by the pilot as required or operated aerodynamically such that on the ground and at zero airspeed they would be deployed/drooped?

Thanks in advance,

Pappy

December 25, 2022

G'day Mark,

I have read that lead can react with PVA over time. This may just be a rumour but the issue has been discusse3d on this and other fora previously

I always use CA or epoxy,

cheers,

Pappy

December 23, 2022

3 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Thanks Sam!

Cheers!

Thanks Pappy. The F-14A 'Late' boxing is ideal for a B conversion as it comes with the majority of the necessary parts:

ECM blisters for wing glove areas

Late style NACA gun vent

Correct front undercarriage doors and later wheel hubs

PTID screen for RIOs cockpit

Correct panels for Lantirn system

The kit includes the later, squared off, exhaust shrouds specific to the GE-110

Lantirn pod, bomb racks and ordnance

NACES seats were only used on the D model, so the GRU-7s provided in kit, or AM alternative suffice here. All you need are the GE-110 exhausts and the B style front coaming. The HUD layout is different on the B to the D (the A did not have a traditional HUD) so it's probably the trickiest part to get, other than sourcing the Phase Hanger set.

Got it,

cheers Dave,

Pappy

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